- The monarch conquers Viborg in the province of Finland from his brother-in-law John of Hoya, who supported Lübeck, and thereby crushes the Hanseatic influence in Finland. John of Hoya flees to Estonia.

1.
1535 in Sweden
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Events from the year 1535 in Sweden Monarch – Gustav I13 January - Swedish victory at the Battle of Helsingborg. 20 April - The appearance of Sun dogs leads to the painting of the Vädersolstavlan, June - Swedish victory at the Battle of Bornholm. 11 June - Swedish victory at the Battle of Öxnebjerg,16 June – Swedish victory at the Battle of Little Belt. November – Swedish victory at the Sea Battle of Copenhagen,22 July - Catherine Stenbock, queen July - Gustav Trolle, archbishop 23 September - Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg, queen Media related to 1535 in Sweden at Wikimedia Commons

2.
15th century
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The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian years 1400 to 1500. In Europe, the 15th century is seen as the bridge between the Late Middle Ages, the Early Renaissance, and the Early modern period. Many technological, social and cultural developments of the 15th century can in retrospect be seen as heralding the European miracle of the following centuries, in religious history, the Roman Papacy was split in two parts in Europe for decades, until the Council of Constance. The division of the Catholic Church and the unrest associated with the Hussite movement would become factors in the rise of the Protestant Reformation in the following century. The event forced Western Europeans to find a new route, adding further momentum to what was the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Explorations by the Spanish and Portuguese led to European sightings of the Americas and these expeditions ushered in the era of the Portuguese and Spanish colonial empires. The fall of Constantinople led to the migration of Greek scholars and texts to Italy and these two events played key roles in the development of the Renaissance. The Spanish Reconquista leads to the fall of the Emirate of Granada by the end of the century, ending over seven centuries of Muslim rule. The Hundred Years War end with a decisive French victory over the English in the Battle of Castillon, financial troubles in England following the conflict results in the Wars of the Roses, a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. The conflicts ends with the defeat of Richard III by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth Field, establishing the Tudor dynasty in the later part of the century. In Asia, under the rule of the Yongle Emperor, who built the Forbidden City and commanded Zheng He to explore the world overseas, tamerlane established a major empire in the Middle East and Central Asia, in order to revive the Mongol Empire. In Africa, the spread of Islam leads to the destruction of the Christian kingdoms of Nubia, the formerly vast Mali Empire teeters on the brink of collapse, under pressure from the rising Songhai Empire. In the Americas, both the Inca Empire and the Aztec Empire reach the peak of their influence, 1400s 1401, Dilawar Khan establishes the Malwa Sultanate in present-day central India 1402, Ottoman and Timurid Empires fight at the Battle of Ankara resulting in Timurs capture of Bayezid I. 1402, Sultanate of Malacca founded by Parameshwara,1403, The Yongle Emperor moves the capital of China from Nanjing to Beijing. 1403, The settlement of the Canary Islands signals the beginning of the Spanish Empire, 1405–1433, Zheng He of China sails through the Indian Ocean to India, Arabia, and East Africa to spread Chinas influence and sovereignty. 1405, Paregreg war, Majapahit civil war of succession between Wikramawardhana against Wirabhumi, 1405–1407, The first voyage of Zheng He, a massive Ming dynasty naval expedition visited Java, Palembang, Malacca, Aru, Samudera and Lambri. 1410s 1410, The Battle of Grunwald is the battle of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War leading to the downfall of the Teutonic Knights. 1410–1413, Foundation of St Andrews University in Scotland,1414, Khizr Khan, deputised by Timur to be the governor of Multan, takes over Delhi founding the Sayyid dynasty

3.
16th century
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The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1500 and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600. It is regarded by historians as the century in which the rise of the West occurred, during the 16th century, Spain and Portugal explored the worlds seas and opened worldwide oceanic trade routes. In Europe, the Protestant Reformation gave a blow to the authority of the papacy. European politics became dominated by conflicts, with the groundwork for the epochal Thirty Years War being laid towards the end of the century. In Italy, Luca Pacioli published the first work ever on accounting, in United Kingdom, the Italian Alberico Gentili wrote the first book on public international law and divided secularism from canon law and Roman Catholic theology. In the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire continued to expand, with the Sultan taking the title of Caliph, China evacuated the coastal areas, because of Japanese piracy. Japan was suffering a civil war at the time. Mughal Emperor Akbar extended the power of the Mughal Empire to cover most of the South Asian sub continent and his rule significantly influenced arts, and culture in the region. These events directly challenged the notion of an immutable universe supported by Ptolemy and Aristotle. Polybius The Histories translated into Italian, English, German and French, medallion rug, variant Star Ushak style, Anatolia, is made. It is now kept at The Saint Louis Art Museum,1500, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain was born. 1500, Guru Nanak the beginning and spreading of the 5th largest Religion in the World Sikhism,1500, Spanish navigator Vicente Yáñez Pinzón encounters Brazil but is prevented from claiming it by the Treaty of Tordesillas. 1500, Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal,1500, The Ottoman fleet of Kemal Reis defeats the Venetians at the Second Battle of Lepanto. 1501, Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue David,1501, Safavid dynasty reunified Iran and ruled over it until 1736. Safavids adopt a Shia branch of Islam,1502, First reported African slaves in The New World 1503, Foundation of the Sultanate of Sennar by Amara Dunqas, in what is modern Sudan 1503, Spain defeats France at the Battle of Cerignola. Considered to be the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms,1503, Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa and completes it three years later. 1503, Nostradamus was born on either December 14, or December 21,1504, A period of drought, with famine in all of Spain. 1504, Death of Isabella I of Castile, Joanna of Castille became the Queen,1505, Zhengde Emperor ascended the throne of Ming Dynasty

4.
17th century
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The 17th century was the century that lasted from January 1,1601, to December 31,1700, in the Gregorian calendar. The greatest military conflicts were the Thirty Years War, the Great Turkish War, in the Islamic world, the Ottoman, Safavid Persian and Mughal empires grew in strength. In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo period at the beginning of the century, European politics were dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. With domestic peace assured, Louis XIV caused the borders of France to be expanded and it was during this century that English monarch became a symbolic figurehead and Parliament was the dominant force in government – a contrast to most of Europe, in particular France. It was also a period of development of culture in general,1600, On February 17 Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake by the Inquisition. 1600, Michael the Brave unifies the three Romanian countries, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania after the Battle of Șelimbăr from 1599. 1601, Battle of Kinsale, England defeats Irish and Spanish forces at the town of Kinsale, driving the Gaelic aristocracy out of Ireland and destroying the Gaelic clan system. 1601, Michael the Brave, voivode of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, is assassinated by the order of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta at Câmpia Turzii, 1601–1603, The Russian famine of 1601–1603 kills perhaps one-third of Russia. 1601, Panembahan Senopati, first king of Mataram, dies and passes rule to his son Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak 1601,1602, Matteo Ricci produces the Map of the Myriad Countries of the World, a world map that will be used throughout East Asia for centuries. 1602, The Portuguese send an expeditionary force from Malacca which succeeded in reimposing a degree of Portuguese control. 1602, The Dutch East India Company is established by merging competing Dutch trading companies and its success contributes to the Dutch Golden Age. 1602, Two emissaries from the Aceh Sultanate visit the Dutch Republic,1603, Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England. 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu takes the title of Shogun, establishing the Tokugawa Shogunate and this begins the Edo period, which will last until 1869. 1603–1623, After modernizing his army, Abbas I expands the Persian Empire by capturing territory from the Ottomans,1603, First permanent Dutch trading post is established in Banten, West Java. First successful VOC privateering raid on a Portuguese ship,1604, A second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reaches Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. 1605, Gunpowder Plot failed in England,1605, The fortresses of Veszprém and Visegrad are retaken by the Ottomans. 1605, February, The VOC in alliance with Hitu prepare to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon,1605, Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak of Mataram establishes control over Demak, former center of the Demak Sultanate. 1606, Treaty of Vienna ends anti-Habsburg uprising in Royal Hungary,1606, Assassination of Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania

5.
1510s
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January – Catherine of Aragon gives birth to her first child, a stillborn daughter. January 23 – An 18-year-old Henry VIII of England jousts anonymously at Richmond, Surrey, february 27 – Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Goa. May 30 – Rebel leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated and captured by commander Qiu Yue, july – The Holy League, formed to defend the Italian States, attacks French-occupied Genoa. December 2 – Battle of Marv, Shah Ismail I defeats the Uzbek forces of Shaybani Khan in Khorasan, the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasili III conquers Pskov Peter Henlein builds the first pocket watch. Sir Thomas More becomes undersheriff of the City of London, paolo Cortese publishes De Cardinalatu, a manual for cardinals, including advice on palatial architecture – which inspires Thomas Wolsey in his construction work at Hampton Court Palace. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa moves to Italy, april 9 St Johns College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter. The Şahkulu Rebellion breaks out in Anatolia, july – Henry VIII of Englands flagship, the Mary Rose, is launched at Portsmouth. The Sultanate then establishes rule from Johor, starting decades of skirmishes against the Portuguese to regain the fallen city, while taking the city, the Portuguese slaughter a large community of Chinese merchants living there. Malacca is the first city in Southeast Asia to be taken by a Western nation, october 12 – James IV of Scotlands great ship, the Michael, is launched at Newhaven, Edinburgh. November – The Treaty of Westminster creates an alliance between Henry VIII of England and Ferdinand II of Aragon against France, november 20 – Sinking of the vessel Frol de la Mar transporting Afonso de Albuquerque and the valuable treasure of the conquest of Malacca en route to Goa. Diego Velázquez and Hernán Cortés conquer Cuba, Velázquez is appointed Governor, duarte Barbosa arrives in India for the second time. He works as clerk in the factory of Cananor and as the liaison with the Indian rajah, Ferdinand II of Aragon observes that one black can do the work of four Indians. Juan de Agramonte, a sailor from Spain, is possibly to have travelled to Newfoundland. Taíno, an indigenous uprising occurs in southwestern Puerto Rico near Guánica, the first black slaves arrive in Colombia. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán begins, Erasmus publishes his most famous work, The Praise of Folly, as Moriae encomium / Laus stultitiae. Middle of January – After Regent of Sweden Svante Nilsson dies on January 2 and he is however ousted after only six months. February 18 – War of the League of Cambrai, Sack of Brescia by the French. April 11 – War of the League of Cambrai, Battle of Ravenna, French forces under Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours defeat the Spanish under Raymond of Cardona, may 3 – The Fifth Council of the Lateran starts

6.
1520s
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January 19 – King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Åsunden in Sweden. The Swedish regent Sten Sture the Younger is mortally wounded in the battle and he is rushed towards Stockholm, in order to lead the fight against the Danes from there, but dies from his wounds on February 3. June – Moctezuma II, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, is declared deposed due to his captivity by conquistador Hernán Cortés and his brother Cuitláhuac rises to the throne. June 7 – King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France meet at the famous Field of Cloth of Gold, June 10 – Revolt of the Comuneros, Blockade of Segovia. June 15 – Pope Leo X issues the bull Exsurge Domine, threatening Martin Luther with excommunication if he does not recant his position on indulgences and other Catholic doctrines. July 1 – La Noche Triste, The forces of Cuitláhuac, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan and this results in the death of about 400 conquistadors and some 2,000 of their Native American allies. However, Cortés and the most skilled of his men manage to escape, july 20 – The Spaniards defeat the Aztecs at Otumba near Lake Texcaco. August – Martin Luther writes To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, september 7 – Christian II makes his triumphant entry into Stockholm, which has surrendered to him a few days earlier. September 22 – Suleiman I succeeds his father Selim I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, October – Cuitláhuac, Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan, dies from smallpox. He is succeeded by his nephew Cuauhtémoc, October 21 – The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon are discovered by Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes off Newfoundland. He names them Islands of the 11,000 Virgins in honour of Saint Ursula, november 1 – Christian II is elected king of Sweden. November 4 – Christian II is crowned king of Sweden, the coronation is followed by a three-day feast in Stockholm. November 7 – At the end of the day of Christians coronation feast. December 10 – Martin Luther burns a copy of The Book of Canon Law, the Franciscan friar Matteo Bassi is inspired to return to the primitive life of solitude and penance as practiced by St. Francis, giving rise to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Aleksandra Lisowska is given as a gift to Suleiman I on the occasion of his accession to the throne, january 3 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. January 22 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, opens the Diet of Worms in Worms, january 27 – Suleiman the Magnificent suppresses a revolt by the ruler of Damascus. January 28 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25, February 2 – The Nydala Abbey Bloodbath take place in Nydala Abbey in Sweden. March 6 Ferdinand Magellan discovers Guam, Martin Luther is summoned to appear before the Diet of Worms

7.
1531
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Year 1531 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. January 26 – Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake in which thousands die, february 27 – Lutheran princes in the Holy Roman Empire form an alliance known as the Schmalkaldic League. February or March – Battle of Antukyah, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi of the Adal Sultanate defeats the Ethiopian army, april – Battle of Puná, Francisco Pizarro defeats the islands native inhabitants. April 16 – The city of Puebla, Mexico, is founded, may – The third Dalecarlian rebellion in Sweden appears to be over when the king accepts an offer made by the rebels, but violence flares up again the following year. June 24 – The city of San Juan del Río, Mexico, is founded, july 25 – The city of Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico is founded. August 26 – Comet Halley achieves its perihelion, september 22 – Battle of Obertyn, The Moldavians are defeated by Polish forces under Jan Tarnowski, allowing the Poles to recapture Pokucie. October 11 – Battle of Kappel, The forces of Zürich are defeated by the Catholic cantons, huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss religious reformer, is killed. October 28 – Battle of Amba Sel, Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, the southern part of Ethiopia thus falls under Imam Ahmads control. Andrea Alciato publishes the first part of his Emblemata, conquistador Francisco de Montejo claims Chichen Itza as capital of Spanish-ruled Yucatán. The University of Sarajevo is founded by Gazi Husrev-beg, charles V, Holy Roman Emperor abolishes the worst abuses of the encomienda system by pressure of Bartolomé de las Casas. Witch-hunt in the town of Schiltach, Germany

8.
1533
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Year 1533 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. January 25 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn, january 26 – Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, is appointed Lord Chancellor of England March 30 – Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. May 23 – King Henry VIII of Englands marriage with Catherine of Aragon is declared annulled by Archbishop Cranmer, since Pope Clement VII had rejected Henrys petition for annulment in 1530, Catherine continues to believe herself Henrys wife until her death. June 1 – Cranmer crowns Anne Boleyn as queen consort of England in Westminster Abbey, july 11 – Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII, as is Archbishop Cranmer. July 26 – Sapa Inca Atahualpa is executed by garotte at the orders of Francisco Pizarro in Cajamarca, november 15 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cusco, Peru. December 3 – Ivan IV succeeds his father Vasili III as Grand Prince of Muscovy at the age of three years. December – Hernando de Grijalva and his crew discover the uninhabited Revillagigedo Islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico December 21 – They discover Isla Santo Tomé, December 28 – They discover Isla de los Inocentes, probably San Benedicto Island. The Statute in Restraint of Appeals declares the king to be the sovereign in England. Paracelsus interprets the Bible in Appenzell, pechenga Monastery is founded in the far north of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. 1533–1534 – Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent makes the Ruthenian harem girl Roxelana his legal wife

9.
1534
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Year 1534 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. February 23 – A group of Anabaptists, led by Jan Matthys, seize Münster in Westphalia and declare it The New Jerusalem, begin to exile dissenters and forcibly baptize all others. April 5 – Anabaptist Jan Matthys is killed by the Landsknechte and his follower John of Leiden takes control of the city. April 7 – Sir Thomas More confined in the Tower of London May 10 – Jacques Cartier explores Newfoundland while searching for the Northwest Passage, june 9 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to discover the Saint Lawrence River. June 23 – Copenhagen opens its gates to Count Christopher of Oldenburg leading the army of Lübeck, the surrenders of Copenhagen and, a few days later, of Malmö represent the high point of the Counts War for the forces of the League. These victories presumably lead the Danish nobility to recognize Christian III as King on July 4, june 29 – Jacques Cartier discovers the Prince Edward Island. July 4 – Election of Christian III as King of Denmark, July 7 – The first known exchange occurs between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in New Brunswick. August 15 – Ignatius of Loyola and six others take the vows that lead to the establishment of the Society of Jesus in Montmartre, august 26 – Piero de Ponte becomes the 45th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller. October 13 – Pope Paul III succeeds Pope Clement VII as the 220th pope, october 18 – Huguenots post placards all over France attacking the Catholic Mass, provoking a violent sectarian reaction. November 3–December 18 – The English Reformation Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy establishing Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England, december 6 – Over 200 Spanish settlers led by conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar found what is now Quito, Ecuador. Act for the Submission of the Clergy confirmed by the Parliament of England, manco Inca Yupanqui is crowned as Sapa Inca in Cusco, Peru by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in succession to his brother Túpac Huallpa. Cambridge University Press is given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII of England, gargantua is published by François Rabelais. First book printed in Yiddish, Mirkevet ha-Mishneh, a Tanakh concordance by rabbi Asher Anchel, translating difficult phrases in biblical Hebrew

10.
1535
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Year 1535 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. January 18 – Lima, Peru, is founded by Francisco Pizarro as Ciudad de los Reyes, february 27 – George Joye publishes his Apologye in Antwerp to clear his name from the accusations of William Tyndale. March – English forces under William Skeffington storm Maynooth Castle in Ireland, march 10 – Fray Tomás de Berlanga discovers the Galápagos Islands when blown off course en route to Peru. May 4 – First of the English Carthusian Martyrs executed, may 10 – Amsterdam, A small troop of Anabaptists, led by the minister Jacob van Geel, attacks the city hall in an attempted coup to seize the city. In the counter-attack by the militia, the burgemeester, Pieter Colijns, is killed by the rebels. In another incident this year in Amsterdam, seven men and five woman walk nude in the streets, may 19 – French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for his second voyage to North America with three ships,110 men, and Chief Donnaconas two sons. May 20 – William Tyndale is arrested in Antwerp for heresy in relation to his Bible translation, june 1 – Conquest of Tunis by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, begins with the destruction of Barbarossas fleet. Following eventual capture of the city from the Ottoman Empire, around 30,000 inhabitants are massacred, june 8 – Battle of Bornholm, Combined Swedish and Danish fleets defeat the Hanseatic navy. June 22 – Execution of Cardinal John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, june 24 – Münster Rebellion, The Anabaptist state of Münster is conquered and disbanded. October 2 – Jacques Cartier reaches the island in the Saint Lawrence River that eventually becomes Montreal, october 4 – The first complete English-language Bible is printed in Antwerp, with translations by William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale. December – Manco Inca Yupanqui, nominally Sapa Inca, is imprisoned by the Spanish Conquistadors of Peru, mughal Emperor Humayun gives battle to Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Spanish forces abandon the second attempted conquest of Yucatán

11.
1536
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Year 1536 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. January 7 – Catherine of Aragon, first queen of Henry VIII of England, february 2 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina. February 25 – Jacob Hutter is burned at the stake for heresy, april 30 – The Inquisition is implemented in Portugal. May 2 – Anne Boleyn, second queen of Henry VIII of England, is arrested on the grounds of incest, adultery, may 17 – The five men accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn, including her own brother George Boleyn, are executed. May 19 – Anne Boleyn, queen consort of Henry VIII of England is executed in the Tower of London, may 30 – Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour. June 24 – Cristóbal de Oñate founds San Juan Bautista del Teul, june 26 – Andrés de Urdaneta and a few companions arrive in Lisbon, completing a circumnavigation which began with de Loaísas expedition of 1525. June 27 – San Pedro Sula is founded by Pedro de Alvarado, october 13 – The Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion in York, is resolved by Robert Aske. War resumes between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis ceases control of Savoy and captures Turin. Charles triumphally enters Rome following the Via Triumphalis and delivers a speech before the pope, battle of Un no Kuchi, Takeda Family forces defeat Hiraga Genshin. Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein, Protestantism is introduced in Denmark, publication of John Calvins Institutio Christianæ religionis, a seminal work of Protestant systematic theology. Battle of Reynogüelén, First battle between Spanish conquistadors and Mapuches in Chile, start of the Arauco War, the Portuguese crown divides Colonial Brazil into fifteen donatory captaincies. Trade compact exempts French merchants from Ottoman law and allows them to travel, buy and sell throughout the sultans dominions, the compact is renewed in 1569

12.
1537
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Year 1537 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. January – Bigods Rebellion, an uprising by Roman Catholics against Henry VIII of England January 6 – Alessandro de Medici, march – Diego de Almagro successfully charges Manco Incas siege of Cuzco, thereby saving his antagonists, the Pizarro brothers. March 12 – Recife is founded by the Portuguese in Brazil, april 1 - the definite end of Catholicism in Norway. Archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson flees from Nidaros to Lier, Belgium, june 2 – Pope Paul III publishes the encyclical Sublimis Deus, which declares the natives of the New World to be rational beings with souls who must not be enslaved or robbed. August 15 – Asunción is founded by Juan de Salazar de Espinosa, august 25 – The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed. August-September – The Ottomans fail to capture Corfu, Manco Cápac establishes the independent Neo-Inca State at Vilcabamba, Peru. The Spaniards bring the potato to Europe, kiritimati is discovered by the Spanish expedition of Hernando de Grijalva

13.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe

14.
Gustav I of Sweden
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Initially of low standing, Gustav rose to lead the rebel movement following the Stockholm Bloodbath, in which his father perished. As King, Gustav proved an administrator with a ruthless streak not inferior to his predecessors. He worked to raise taxes, end Feudalism and bring about a Swedish Reformation, replacing the prerogatives of local landowners, noblemen and clergy with centrally appointed governors and bishops. Due to a vibrant dynastic succession, his three sons, Erik, Johan and Karl IX, all held the kingship at different points, Gustav I has subsequently been labelled the founder of modern Sweden, and the father of the nation. Gustav liked to compare himself to Moses, whom he believed to have liberated his people. As a person, Gustav was known for ruthless methods and a bad temper and he founded one of the now oldest orchestras of the world, the Kungliga Hovkapellet. Royal housekeeping accounts from 1526 mention twelve musicians including wind players, today the Kungliga Hovkapellet is the orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera. Gustav Eriksson, a son of Cecilia Månsdotter Eka and Erik Johansson Vasa, was born in 1496. The birth most likely place in Rydboholm Castle, northeast of Stockholm. The newborn got his name, Gustav, from Eriks grandfather Gustav Anundsson, Erik Johanssons parents were Johan Kristersson and Birgitta Gustafsdotter of the dynasties Vasa and Sture respectively, both dynasties of high nobility. Birgitta Gustafsdotter was the sister of Sten Sture the Elder, regent of Sweden, being a relative and ally of uncle Sten Sture, Erik inherited the regents estates in Uppland and Södermanland when the latter died in 1503. Although a member of a family with considerable properties since childhood, according to genealogical research, Birgitta Gustafsdotter and Sten Sture were descended from King Sverker II of Sweden, through King Sverkers granddaughter Benedikte Sunesdotter. One of King Gustavs great-grandmothers was a half-sister of King Charles VIII of Sweden, since the end of the 14th century, Sweden had been a part of the Kalmar Union with Denmark and Norway. The Danish dominance in this union led to uprisings in Sweden. During Gustavs childhood, parts of the Swedish nobility tried to make Sweden independent, Gustav and his father Erik supported the party of Sten Sture the Younger, regent of Sweden from 1512, and its struggle against the Danish King Christian II. Following the battle of Brännkyrka in 1518, where Sten Stures troops beat the Danish forces, it was decided that Sten Sture and King Christian would meet in Österhaninge for negotiations. To guarantee the safety of the king, the Swedish side sent six men as hostages to be kept by the Danes for as long as the negotiations lasted. However, Christian did not show up for the negotiations, violated the deal with the Swedish side, the six members of the kidnapped hostage were Hemming Gadh, Lars Siggesson, Jöran Siggesson, Olof Ryning, Bengt Nilsson – and Gustav Eriksson

15.
Count's Feud
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The Counts Feud, also called the Counts War, was a civil war that raged in Denmark in 1534–36 and brought about the Reformation in Denmark. The Counts Feud takes its name from the Protestant Count Christopher of Oldenburg, after Frederick Is death in 1533, the Jutland nobility proclaimed his son, then Duke Christian of Gottorp, as King under the name Christian III. Meanwhile, Count Christoffer organized an uprising against the new king, demanding that Christian II be set free, supported by Lübeck and troops from Oldenburg and Mecklenburg, parts of the Zealand and Skåne nobilities rose up, together with cities such as Copenhagen and Malmø. The headquarters for the revolt came to be in Aalborg, a large number of manors were burned down in northern and western Jutland. On 10 August 1534, Count Christoffer accepted Skåne for Christian IIs rule, the month before, Christoffer was heralded as regent on Christian IIs behalf by the Zealand Council in Ringsted. An army of nobles under the leadership of Niels Brock and Holger Rosenkrantz was defeated at the Battle of Svenstrup on 16 October 1534, Christian III, in the meantime, forced a peace with Lübeck, from which great reinforcements could be freed up to fight against the rebels. On 18 December, Rantzaus troops stormed the city, and it fell, at least 2,000 people are thought to have lost their lives in the storming of the city and in the plundering of the following days. For his part, Skipper Clement, badly wounded, managed to escape, Skipper Clement was later sentenced to death by the judicial council in Viborg and executed in 1536. Fortune did not fare well for the supporters of the Catholic faith. Later, a Swedish army invaded Halland, which was destroyed by fire, some of the Scanian nobles sided with the Swedes, but Tyge Krabbe in Helsingborg Castle supported Count Christoffer. In January 1535, the Swedes and the army of nobles advanced on Helsingborg, with that, Denmark east of the Sound was lost for Count Christoffer. After the victory at Aalborg, Rantzau brought his troops to Funen, and on 11 June 1535, they fought the Battle of Øksnebjerg, both Copenhagen and Malmø, however, were able to hold out until 1536, when they were forced to capitulate after several months siege. With this, the Counts Feud was officially over, in the aftermath of the feud, the nobles regrouped and healed the rifts the usual way, namely through inter-marriage. One of the most powerful among the Danish nobility in Skåne at this time was the Bille family, the Billes also had six family members on the Council of the Realm and owned castles throughout Denmark and Norway. The Brahe family was one of the first among the nobility to convert to Lutheranism, Tycho Brahes paternal grandfather, whom he was named after, Tyge Brahe of Tosterup in eastern Skåne, was killed 7 September 1523 during the siege of Malmø, fighting for Frederick I. Axel Brahe, the brother of the older Tyge Brahe, served as governor of Scania for a long period, in contrast, the consequences of the peasant uprising cost all parties dearly. Many were forced to purchase their lives with great gifts both to the king and to the nobles. Moreover, the dissatisfactions of the peasants, which had culminated in the uprising of the Counts Feud, were made worse

16.
Christian III of Denmark
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Christian III reigned as king of Denmark from 1534 until his death and Norway from 1537 until his death. During his reign, Christian established Lutheranism as the religion within his realms as part of the Protestant Reformation. Christian was the eldest son of future king Frederick I and Anna of Brandenburg and he was born at Gottorf Castle which Frederick I had made a primary residence. In 1514, when he was just ten years old, Christians mother died, four years later, his father remarried to Sophie of Pomerania. In 1523, Frederick I was elected king of Denmark in the place of his nephew, the young prince Christians first public service after his father became king was gaining the submission of Copenhagen, which stood firm for the fugitive Christian II. As stadtholder of the Duchies of Holstein and Schleswig in 1526, Christians earliest teacher, Wolfgang von Utenhof, and his Lutheran tutor, the military general Johann Rantzau, were both zealous reformers who had an influence on the young prince. At their urging, while traveling in Germany in 1521, he made present at the Diet of Worms to hear Martin Luther speak. The prince made no secret of his Lutheran views and his outspokenness brought him into conflict, not only with the Roman Catholic Rigsraad, but also with his cautious and temporizing father. At his own court at Schleswig he did his best to introduce the Protestant Reformation and he made the Lutheran Church the State Church of Schleswig-Holstein with the Church Ordinance of 1528. After his fathers death, in 1533, Christian was proclaimed king at an assembly in Rye, Christian II had supported both the Roman Catholics and Protestant Reformers at various times. In opposition to King Christian III, Count Christopher was proclaimed regent at the Ringsted Assembly and this resulted in a two-year civil war, known as the Counts Feud, between Protestant and Catholic forces. Count Christopher had the support of most of Zealand, Scania, the Hanseatic League, Christian III found his support among the nobles of Jutland. In 1534, peasants under Skipper Clement began an uprising in northern Jutland, an army of nobles and their vassals assembled at Svendstrup and suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the peasants. Clement and his army fled north, taking refuge inside the walls of Aalborg, in December, Rantzaus forces breached the walls and stormed the city. In the following days 3,000 people were massacred and the city was plundered by the Protestant German mercenaries, Clement managed to escape the slaughter, but was apprehended a few days later. He was tried and beheaded in 1535, with Jutland more or less secure, Christian next focused on gaining control of Scania. He appealed to the Protestant Swedish king Gustav Vasa for help in subduing the rebels, Gustav immediately obliged by sending two armies to ravage central Scania and Halland. The peasants suffered a defeat at Loshult in Scania

17.
Laurentius Petri
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Laurentius Petri Nericius was a Swedish clergyman and the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden. He and his brother Olaus Petri are, together with the King Gustav Vasa and they are commemorated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on April 19. Laurentius was born Lars Persson in Örebro, Närke, Laurentius studied in Germany in 1520, possibly together with his brother. Here they took influence from Lutheranism, among other things they met with Martin Luther himself, on returning home to Stockholm, they got stranded and nearly lost their lives as the boat went ashore on the island Gotland. They both survived however, and settled on the island, and Laurentius became headmaster at a school while Olaus became assistant to a priest, not so long after, Olaus travelled with the priest to Stockholm and the crowning of King Gustav Vasa. Subsequently, he managed to get on terms with the King. At the Uppsala Council 1531, the Swedish King Gustav Vasa took the step of breaking with the Roman Catholic Church. On September 22 that year, Laurentius was consecrated archbishop by the Petrus Magni, but although the consecration took place according to Catholic ritual, those who officiated at the consecration made a secret declaration that they were acting under pressure. Later that year Laurentius married Elisabeth Didriksdotter, a daughter of the Kings cousin becoming the first Swedish archbishop to be married and his brother Olaus had already become the first priest to marry in 1525. The king forbade Laurentius to interfere with the reformation plans and his main contribution were his abundant writings which laid the foundation for the Swedish Church Ordinance established at the Uppsala Council 1571. He was archbishop for 42 years, unparalleled in Sweden, in 1539 his brother Olaus was sentenced to death by the King over some arguments, and Laurentius was among those forced to sign the death sentence. It has been disputed whether Laurentius was doing this because of a character or if he thought it better to formally obey so that he could continue to spread the reformation ideas. Olaus did eventually get pardoned in 1542, much due to his influential friends, Gustav I of Sweden entrusted Laurentius Petri to head the delegation who negotiated the Treaty of Novgorod, which ended the Russo-Swedish War. The first complete Swedish translation of the Bible was published in 1541, Laurentius was one of the main proponents supervising the project, together with his brother Olaus and the clergyman Laurentius Andreae. In the 1560s, when the ideas of Calvin gained in influence and it has been suggested that it was the first time the Swedish Church defined its Lutheran character. Article Laurentius Petri in Nordisk familjebok Olaus Petri and Laurentius Petri

18.
Halmstad
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Halmstad is a port, university, industrial and recreational city at the mouth of Nissan in the province of Halland on the Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat of Halmstad Municipality and the capital of Halland County, the city had a population of 92,797 in 2012, out of a municipal total of over 90,000. Halmstad is Swedens 20th-largest city by population and located about midway between Gothenburg and Malmö and it is Europes northernmost city with a lot of timber framing architecture. Halmstad, at the part of the Kingdom of Denmark, received its first city charter in 1307. The oldest remains of that first town are to be found at Övraby upstream on Nissan, just south of, the remains of the church can still be seen today between a defunct brick industry and a former landfill. In the 1320s the town moved to the present day town centre, at this time there were two monasteries in the town and during the 15th century the St. Nikolai church was built. Halland was the object of numerous battles, sieges and occupations by Swedish troops, during the Kalmar Union – a Nordic Union between Sweden, Norway and Denmark which lasted between 1400 and 1520 – it was in Halmstad that the Union King was to be finally selected. 1619 is an important date in the history of Halmstad, in March of that year, King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden and Christian IV met at the castle. Over a period of a week they celebrated the payment in full of the Älvsborg ransom, august of the same year saw the destruction of Halmstad by fire. Halland became part of Sweden for a period of thirty years when peace was declared at the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 made this acquisition permanent. Sweden defeated Denmark in the Battle of Fyllebro which took place in 1676 just outside Halmstad, the first May Day demonstration in Sweden was held in Halmstad in 1897. The population grew from 48,800 in 1990 to 58,577 in 2010, in September 2007 the city hosted the Solheim Cup, which was played at the Halmstad Golfklubb. In 2011 Halmstad was the port of the Tall Ships Races. Halmstad has the south Scandinavian variety of the relatively wet climate with warm summers and cool to cold winters. Founded in 1983, Halmstad University is a higher education institution offering bachelors and masters programs in various fields of study. In addition, it conducts Ph. D. programs in three fields of research, Information Technology, Innovation Science and Health Science, Halmstad University has more than 9000 students, including 245 exchange students and 163 international programme students

19.
Thaler
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The thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in the many currencies called dollar and, until recently and this original Bohemian thaler carried a lion, from the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia, on its reverse side. Etymologically, Thal is German for valley - a thaler is a person or a thing from the valley, the Czech spelling was tolar, many varieties of the term are used in different languages. In the 1902 spelling reform, the German spelling was changed from Thal and Thaler to Tal and Taler, the roots and development of the thaler-sized silver coin date back to the mid-15th century. In 1474 a 9-gram lira was issued but it was in 1484 that Archduke Sigismund of Tirol issued the first truly revolutionary silver coin and this was a very rare coin, almost a trial piece, but it did circulate so successfully that demand could not be met. Finally, with the silver deposits—being mined at Schwaz—to work with and his mint at Hall, Sigismund issued, in 1486, large numbers of the first true thaler-sized coin, the Guldengroschen, nicknamed the guldiner, was an instant and unqualified success. Soon it was being copied widely by many states who had the necessary silver, by 1518, guldiners were popping up everywhere in central Europe. Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary, was portrayed on the coin along with the Bohemian lion, similar coins began to be minted in neighbouring valleys rich in silver deposits, each named after the particular thal or valley from which the silver was extracted. There were soon so many of them that these coins began to be known more widely as thaler in German. From these earliest thaler developed the new thaler – the coin that the Holy Roman Empire had been looking to create as a standard for trade between the regions of Europe, the original Joachimsthaler Guldengroschen was one ounce in weight. The Empires Reichstaler was defined as containing 400.99 grains of silver, in the 17th century, some Joachimsthalers were in circulation in the Tsardom of Russia, where they were called yefimok - a distortion of the first half of the name. The zenith of thaler minting occurred in the late 16th and 17th centuries with the so-called multiple thalers, the first were minted in Brunswick, and indeed the majority were struck there. Some of these coins reached colossal size, as much as sixteen normal thalers, the original reason for minting these colossal coins, some of which exceeded a full pound of silver and being over 12 cm in diameter, is uncertain. The name löser most likely was derived from a gold coin minted in Hamburg called the Portugalöser. Some of the silver löser reached this value, but not all, eventually the term was applied to numerous similar coins worth more than a single thaler. These coins are rare, the larger ones often costing tens of thousands of dollars. Few circulated in any real sense so they remain in well-preserved condition. In the Holy Roman Empire, the thaler was used as the standard against which the various states currencies could be valued, one standard also adopted by Prussia was the Reichsthaler, which contained 1⁄14 of a Cologne mark of silver

20.
Riseberga Abbey
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Riseberga Abbey, was a Cistercian nunnery in Sweden, in operation from circa 1180 until 1534. It was located near Fjugesta in Närke and it had the right to appoint the vicar of the Edsberg parish, which was under the jurisdiction of the abbey. The ruins of the buildings are preserved, and the Amphitheatre of the abbey are presently used as a Sylvan theater, riseberga Abbey was founded in the late 12th-century, it is confirmed from at least 1180. It was benefited by Birger Brosa and his second consort queen dowager Bridget Haraldsdotter, who made donations to it. The abbey eventually became a landowner through donations. In 1212, it was granted all confiscated property of convicted criminals for crimes committed in the area, riseberga was placed under the administration of Julia and Alvastra monastery. Most of the members were females, but it had a minority of members to assist the nuns. Riseberga was located isolated in the wilderness, and both nuns and monks of the community are known to have lived as hermits in the area around the convent. Th abbey had the right to appoint the vicars of the Edsberg parish, in the 1340s, Saint Bridget of Sweden placed her daughter Ingeborg as a novice in the abbey, another one of her daughters, Catherine of Vadstena, was educated here. In 1534, the members of the abbey left after having applied to be received by a convent abroad. The buildings burn down in 1546, and was long used as a quarry. Riseberga is the place of the legend of Fair Elisif

21.
Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign

22.
History of Austria
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The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states, from the early Stone Age to the present state. The name Ostarrîchi has been in use since 996 AD when it was a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria, Austria was dominated by the House of Habsburg from 1273 to 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire came to an end. When this empire collapsed in 1918, Austria was reduced to the main German speaking areas of the empire, however this union was forbidden by the Allies at the Treaty of Versailles. Following the First Republic, Austrofascism tried to keep Austria independent from the German Reich, but in 1938 it was annexed by Nazi Germany with the support of the large majority of the Austrian people. After the Second World War Austria again became an independent republic as the Second Republic in 1955, the history of Austria raises a number of questions. Should it be confined to the current Republic of Austria, or to all lands formerly ruled by the rulers of Austria, should Austrian history include 1938–1945 when it did not exist. Within Austria there are regional variations, and parts of Austria have at various times wished to become part of adjacent countries. Human habitation of current Austria can be traced back to the first farming communities of the early Stone Age. In the late Iron Age it was occupied by a Celtic culture, at the end of the 1st century BC this became part of the Roman Empires lands to the south of the Danube, and was incorporated as the Province of Noricum around 40 AD. The most important Roman settlement was at Carnuntum, in the 6th century, another Germanic people, the Bavarii occupied these lands until it fell to the Frankish Empire in the 9th century. Around 800 AD Charlemagne established the outpost of Avar March in what is now Lower Austria, to hold back advances from Slavs and Avars. In the 10th century an eastern outpost of the Duchy of Bavaria, bordering Hungary, was established as the Marchia orientalis or Margraviate of Austria in 976 and this Eastern March, in German was known as Ostarrîchi or Eastern Realm, hence Austria. The first mention of Ostarrîchi occurs in a document of that name dated 996 CE, from 1156 the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa created an independent duchy under the House of Babenberg, until its extinction in 1246, corresponding to modern Lower Austria. The 15th and early 16th century saw expansion of the Habsburg territories through diplomacy and marriages to include Spain. This expansionism, together with French aspirations and the resultant Habsburg-French or Bourbon-Habsburg rivalry were important factors shaping European History for 200 years, by 1526 Ferdinand had also inherited the kingdoms of Bohemia, and Hungary after the Battle of Mohács which partitioned the latter. However the Ottoman Empire now lay directly adjacent to the Austrian lands, even after the unsuccessful first Siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1529, the Ottoman threat persisted for another one and a half centuries. The 16th Century also saw the spread of the Reformation, from around 1600 the Habsburg policy of recatholicisation or Catholic Renewal eventually led to the Thirty Years War. Originally a religious war, it was also a struggle for power in central Europe, eventually the pressure of the anti-Habsburg coalition of France, Sweden, and most Protestant German states contained their authority to the Austrian and Czech lands in 1648

23.
History of France
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The first written records for the history of France appear in the Iron Age. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language, over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire, in the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic Franks. The Frankish king Clovis I united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne. The war formally began in 1337 following Philip VIs attempt to seize the Duchy of Aquitaine from its holder, Edward III of England. Despite early Plantagenet victories, including the capture and ransom of John II of France, among the notable figures of the war was Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who led French forces against the English, establishing herself as a national heroine. The war ended with a Valois victory in 1453, victory in the Hundred Years War had the effect of strengthening French nationalism and vastly increasing the power and reach of the French monarchy. During the period known as the Ancien Régime, France transformed into an absolute monarchy. During the next centuries, France experienced the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, Henry, King of Navarre, scion of the Bourbon family, would be victorious in the conflict and establish the French Bourbon dynasty. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire was established in the 16th century, French political power reached a zenith under the rule of Louis XIV, The Sun King, builder of Versailles Palace. In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French Revolution, the country was governed for a period as a Republic, until the French Empire was declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. France was one of the Triple Entente powers in World War I, fighting alongside the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, the United States and smaller allies against Germany and the Central Powers. France was one of the Allied Powers in World War II, the Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by Germany while the south was controlled until 1942 by the collaborationist Vichy government. Living conditions were harsh as Germany drained away food and manpower, Charles de Gaulle led the Free France movement that one-by-one took over the colonial empire, and coordinated the wartime Resistance. Following liberation in summer 1944, a Fourth Republic was established, France slowly recovered economically, and enjoyed a baby boom that reversed its very low fertility rate. Long wars in Indochina and Algeria drained French resources and ended in political defeat, in the wake of the Algerian Crisis of 1958, Charles de Gaulle set up the French Fifth Republic. Into the 1960s decolonization saw most of the French colonial empire become independent, while smaller parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas departments, since World War II France has been a permanent member in the UN Security Council and NATO. It played a role in the unification process after 1945 that led to the European Union

24.
History of Germany
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Following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Franks conquered the other West Germanic tribes. When the Frankish Empire was divided among Charlemagnes heirs in 843, in 962, Otto I became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the medieval German state. In the High Middle Ages, the dukes, princes. Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church after 1517, as the states became Protestant. The two parts of the Holy Roman Empire clashed in the Thirty Years War, which was ruinous to the twenty million civilians living in both states. The Thirty Years War brought tremendous destruction to Germany, more than 1/4 of the population,1648 marked the effective end of the Holy Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern nation-state system, with Germany divided into numerous independent states, such as Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony. After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, feudalism fell away, the Industrial Revolution modernized the German economy, led to the rapid growth of cities and to the emergence of the Socialist movement in Germany. Prussia, with its capital Berlin, grew in power, German universities became world-class centers for science and the humanities, while music and the arts flourished. The new Reichstag, a parliament, had only a limited role in the imperial government. Germany joined the other powers in colonial expansion in Africa and the Pacific, Germany was the dominant power on the continent. By 1900, its rapidly expanding industrial economy passed Britains, allowing a naval race, Germany led the Central Powers in World War I against France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States. Defeated and partly occupied, Germany was forced to pay war reparations by the Treaty of Versailles and was stripped of its colonies as well as Polish areas and Alsace-Lorraine. The German Revolution of 1918–19 deposed the emperor and the kings and princes, leading to the establishment of the Weimar Republic. In the early 1930s, the worldwide Great Depression hit Germany hard, as unemployment soared, in 1933, the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler came to power and quickly established a totalitarian regime. Political opponents were killed or imprisoned, after forming a pact with the Soviet Union in 1939, Hitler and Stalin divided Eastern Europe. After a Phoney War in spring 1940 the German blitzkrieg swept Scandinavia, only the British Commonwealth and Empire stood opposed, along with Greece. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in 1942, the German invasion of the Soviet Union faltered, and after the United States had entered the war, Britain became the base for massive Anglo-American bombings of German cities. Germany fought the war on multiple fronts through 1942–1944, however following the Allied invasion of Normandy, millions of ethnic Germans fled from Communist areas into West Germany, which experienced rapid economic expansion, and became the dominant economy in Western Europe

25.
History of Hungary
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For the history of the area before this period, see Pannonian basin before Hungary. The oldest archaeological site in Hungary is Vértesszőlős, where palaeolithic Oldowan pebble tools, the Roman Empire conquered territory west of the Danube River between 35 and 9 BC. From 9 BC to the end of the 4th century AD, Pannonia, among the first to arrive were the Huns, who built up a powerful empire under Attila the Hun in 435 AD. Attila was regarded in past centuries as a ruler of the Hungarians. They entered what is now Hungary in the 7th century AD, the Avar Khaganate was weakened by constant wars and outside pressure, and the Franks under Charlemagne managed to defeat the Avars to end their 250-year rule. Árpád was the leader who unified the Magyar tribes via the Covenant of Blood and he led the new nation to the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. Between 895 and 902 the whole area of the Carpathian Basin was conquered by the Hungarians, an early Hungarian state was formed in this territory in 895. The military power of the nation allowed the Hungarians to conduct successful fierce campaigns, Prince Géza of the Árpád dynasty, who ruled only part of the united territory, was the nominal overlord of all seven Magyar tribes. He aimed to integrate Hungary into Christian Western Europe by rebuilding the state according to the Western political and social models, Géza established a dynasty by naming his son Vajk as his successor. This decision was contrary to the dominant tradition of the time to have the eldest surviving member of the ruling family succeed the incumbent. By ancestral right, Prince Koppány, the oldest member of the dynasty, should have claimed the throne, Koppány did not relinquish his ancestral rights without a fight. After Gézas death in 997, Koppány took up arms, the rebels claimed to represent the old political order, ancient human rights, tribal independence and pagan belief. Stephen won a victory over his uncle Koppány and had him executed. Hungary was recognized as a Catholic Apostolic Kingdom under Saint Stephen I, Stephen was the son of Géza and thus a descendant of Árpád. Stephen was crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary in the first day of 1000 AD in the city of Esztergom. Pope Sylvester II conferred on him the right to have the cross carried before him, with full authority over bishoprics. By 1006, Stephen had solidified his power by eliminating all rivals who either wanted to follow the old traditions or wanted an alliance with the Eastern Christian Byzantine Empire. Then he initiated sweeping reforms to convert Hungary into a feudal state, complete with forced Christianization

26.
1534 in Ireland
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Events from the year 1534 in Ireland. February – Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, is summoned to London, june – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare revolts. He had heard rumours that his father had been executed in the Tower of London and, as a result, july Thomas FitzGerald attacks Dublin Castle, but his army is routed. An earthquake with its epicentre in North Wales is felt in Dublin, july 28 – Archbishop John Alen, Chancellor of Ireland is murdered at Clontarf by retainers of Thomas FitzGerald. September 2 – Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, Thomas father, september 2 – Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare Thomas FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Desmond

27.
Kalmar Union
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The Union was not quite continuous, there were several short interruptions. Legally the countries remained separate sovereign states, but with their domestic, one main impetus for its formation was to block German expansion northward into the Baltic region. The main reason for its failure to survive was the struggle between the monarch, who wanted a strong unified state, and the Swedish and Danish nobility which did not. Diverging interests gave rise to a conflict that would hamper the union in several intervals from the 1430s until its breakup in 1523 when Gustav Vasa became king of Sweden. Norway continued to remain a part of the realm of Denmark–Norway under the Oldenburg dynasty for nearly three centuries until its dissolution in 1814. Then Union between Sweden and Norway lasted until 1905, when a grandson of the incumbent king of Denmark was elected its king, the union was the work of Scandinavian aristocracy wishing to counter the influence of the Hanseatic League. Margaret, a daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark, married King Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden, Margaret succeeded in having her son Olav recognized as heir to the throne of Denmark. In 1376 Olav inherited the crown of Denmark from his grandfather as King Oluf III, with his mother as guardian. The two kingdoms were united in a union under a child king, with the kings mother as his guardian, later. On 2 February the next year, she was recognized as regent of Norway. Their common enemy was the Hanseatic League and the growing German influence over the Scandinavian economy. The Nordic union was established on 17 June 1397 by the Treaty of Kalmar, signed in the Swedish castle of Kalmar on Swedens south-east coast, at each junction, installation of a new monarch tended to mean a break-up of the union for a while. Eric of Pomerania, however, became the monarch of all three kingdoms, at Kalmar, the 15-year-old Eric of Pomerania was crowned king of all three kingdoms by the archbishops of Denmark and Sweden, but Margaret managed to remain in control until her death in 1412. It is said that contemporaries of the Union would not recognize the term, Union of Kalmar—that they just understood that much of the time. While the term meaning Treaty of Kalmar was known already at the time, the Swedes were not happy with the Danes frequent wars on Schleswig, Holstein, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, which were a disturbance to Swedish exports to the European continent. Furthermore, the centralization of government in Denmark raised suspicions, the Swedish Privy Council wanted to retain a fair degree of self-government. The unity of the union eroded after the Danish defeat against the German Hanseatic League in the 1430s, even to the point of armed rebellion, erik was deposed as the union king and was succeeded by his nephew, the childless Christopher of Bavaria. In the power vacuum that arose following Christophers death, Sweden elected Charles VIII king with the intent to reestablish the union under a Swedish king, during the next seven decades struggle for power and the wars between Sweden and Denmark would dominate the union

28.
History of Malta
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Malta has a long history and has been inhabited since settlers from Sicily arrived around 5200 BC. Malta became an independent state in 1964, and a republic in 1974, since 2004 the country has been a member state of the European Union. Malta stands on a ridge that extends from North Africa to Sicily. At some time in the distant past, Malta was submerged, some caverns in Malta have revealed bones of elephants, hippopotami, and other large animals now found in Africa, while others have revealed animals native to Europe. People first arrived in Malta around 5200 BC and these first Neolithic people probably arrived from Sicily, and were mainly farming and fishing communities, with some evidence of hunting activities. They apparently lived in caves and open dwellings, during the centuries that followed there is evidence of further contacts with other cultures, which left their influence on the local communities, evidenced by their pottery designs and colours. One of the most notable periods of Maltas history is the temple period, the Ġgantija Temple in Gozo is one of the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. The name of the stems from the Maltese word ġgant. Many of the temples are in the form of five semicircular rooms connected at the centre. It has been suggested that these might have represented the head, arms and legs of a deity, the Temple period lasted until about 2500 BC, at which point the civilization that raised these huge monoliths seems to have disappeared. There is much speculation about what might have happened and whether they were wiped out or assimilated. After the Temple period came the Bronze Age, from this period there are remains of a number of settlements and villages, as well as dolmens — altar-like structures made out of very large slabs of stone. They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity to the found in the largest island of the Mediterranean sea. One surviving menhir, which was used to build temples, still stands at Kirkop, among the most interesting and mysterious remnants of this era are the so-called cart ruts as they can be seen at a place on Malta called Clapham Junction. These are pairs of parallel channels cut into the surface of the rock, one suggestion is that beasts of burden used to pull carts along, and these channels would guide the carts and prevent the animals from straying. The society that built these structures eventually died out or at any rate disappeared, phoenicians possibly from Tyre began to colonize the islands in approximately the 8th century BC as an outpost from which they expanded sea explorations and trade in the Mediterranean. The former settlement was known as Maleth meaning safe haven, the Maltese Islands fell under the hegemony of Carthage in around the 6th century BC, along with most other Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean

29.
History of Moldavia
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Moldavia is a historical region, and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river. The western half of Moldavia is now part of Romania, the eastern side belongs to the Republic of Moldova, the original and short-lived reference to the region was Bogdania, after Bogdan I, the founding figure of the principality. Dragoș was accompanied by his female hound called Molda, when reached the shores of an unfamiliar river. The dogs name would have given to the river and extended to the country. The old German Molde, meaning open-pit mine the Gothic Mulda meaning dust, dirt, a Slavic etymology, marking the end of one Slavic genitive form, denoting ownership, chiefly of feminine nouns. In several early references, Moldavia is rendered under the composite form Moldo-Wallachia, Ottoman Turkish references to Moldavia included Boğdan Iflak and Boğdan. See also names in other languages, the name of the region in other languages include French, Moldavie, German, Moldau, Hungarian, Moldva, Russian, Молдавия, Moldaviya, Turkish, Boğdan Prensliği, Greek, Μολδαβία. The inhabitants of Moldova were Christians, archaeological works revealed the remains of a Christian necropolis at Mihălășeni, Botoșani county, from the 5th century. The place of worship, and the tombs had Christian characteristics, the place of worship had a rectangular form with sides of 8 and 7 meters. Similar necropolis and place of worship were found at Nicolina, in Iași The Bolohoveni, the chronicle shows that this land is bordered on the principalities of Halych, Volhynia and Kiev. Archaeological research also identified the location of 13th-century fortified settlements in this region, Alexandru V. Boldur identified Voscodavie, Voscodavti, Voloscovti, Volcovti, Volosovca and their other towns and villages between the middle course of the rivers Nistru/Dniester and Nipru/Dnieper. The Bolohoveni disappeared from chronicles after their defeat in 1257 by Daniil Romanovichs troops, in the early 13th century, the Brodniks, a possible Slavic–Vlach vassal state of Halych, were present, alongside the Vlachs, in much of the regions territory. On the border between Halych and the Brodniks, in the 11th century, a Viking by the name of Rodfos was killed in the area by Vlachs who supposedly betrayed him. In 1164, the future Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, was prisoner by Vlach shepherds around the same region. In 1342 and 1345, the Hungarians were victorious in a battle against Tatar-Mongols, the Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I, against the Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1353, Dragoș, mentioned as a Vlach Knyaz in Maramureș, was sent by Louis I to establish a line of defense against the Golden Horde forces of Mongols on the Siret River and this expedition resulted in a polity vassal to Hungary, centered around Baia. His realm extended north to the Cheremosh River, while the part of Moldavia was still occupied by the Tatar Mongols. After first residing in Baia, Bogdan moved Moldavias seat to Siret, disfavored by the brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary, Bogdans successor Lațcu accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without consequences

30.
Navarre
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The first documented use of a name resembling Navarra, Nafarroa, or Naparroa is a reference to navarros, in Eginhards early 9th Century chronicle of the feats of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Other Royal Frankish Annals feature nabarros, there are two proposed etymologies for the name. Basque nabar, brownish, multicolor (i. e. in contrast to the mountainous lands north of the original County of Navarre. Basque naba, valley, plain + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines considers naba to be linguistically part of a wider Vasconic or Aquitanian language substrate, rather than Basque per se. During the Roman Empire, the Vascones, a tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the mountainous north, the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement, not so the flatter areas to the south, which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming—vineyards, olives, and wheat crops. Neither the Visigoths nor the Franks ever completely subjugated the area, the Vascones included neighbouring tribes as of the 7th century. In AD778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and that kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of King Sancho III, comprising most of the Christian realms to the south of the Pyrenees, and even a short overlordship of Gascony. When Sancho III died in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided between his sons and it never fully recovered its political power, while its commercial importance increased as traders and pilgrims poured into the kingdom throughout the Way of Saint James. In 1200, Navarre lost the key western Basque districts to Alphonse VIII of Castile, Navarre then contributed with a small but symbolic force of 200 knights to the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Almohads. The native line of kings came to an end in 1234, however, the Navarrese kept most of their strong laws and institutions. To the south of the Pyrenees, Navarre was annexed to the Crown of Castile, but keeping a separate status. A Chartered Government was established, and the managed to keep home rule. After the 1839 Convention of Bergara, a version of home rule was passed in 1839. The relocation of customs from the Ebro river to the Pyrenees in 1841 prompted the collapse of Navarre’s customary cross-Pyrenean trade, amid instability in Spain, Carlists took over in Navarre and the rest of the Basque provinces. The end of the Third Carlist War saw a wave of Spanish centralization directly affecting Navarre. In 1893-1894 the Gamazada popular uprising took place centred in Pamplona against Madrids governmental decisions breaching the 1841 chartered provisions. Except for a faction, all parties in Navarre agreed on the need for a new political framework based on home rule within the Laurak Bat

31.
History of the Ottoman Empire
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The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I. As sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453, the state grew into a mighty empire, the empire came to an end in the aftermath of its defeat by the ] in World War I. The empire was dismantled by the Allies after the war ended in 1918, with the demise of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called Anatolian Beyliks. By 1300, a weakened Byzantine Empire had lost most of its Anatolian provinces to these Turkish principalities, one of the beyliks was led by Osman I, from which the name Ottoman is derived, son of Ertuğrul, around Eskişehir in western Anatolia. In the foundation myth expressed in the known as Osmans Dream. According to his dream the tree, which was Osmans Empire, issued four rivers from its roots, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile, additionally, the tree shaded four mountain ranges, the Caucasus, the Taurus, the Atlas and the Balkan ranges. During his reign as Sultan, Osman I extended the frontiers of Turkish settlement toward the edge of the Byzantine Empire, in this period, a formal Ottoman government was created whose institutions would change drastically over the life of the empire. In the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over the Eastern Mediterranean, Osmans son, Orhan, captured the city of Bursa in 1326 and made it the new capital of the Ottoman state. The fall of Bursa meant the loss of Byzantine control over Northwestern Anatolia, the important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387. The Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, widely regarded as the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages, failed to stop the advance of the victorious Ottoman Turks. With the extension of Turkish dominion into the Balkans, the strategic conquest of Constantinople became a crucial objective, the Empire controlled nearly all former Byzantine lands surrounding the city, but the Byzantines were temporarily relieved when Timur invaded Anatolia in the Battle of Ankara in 1402. He took Sultan Bayezid I as a prisoner, the capture of Bayezid I threw the Turks into disorder. The state fell into a war that lasted from 1402 to 1413. It ended when Mehmed I emerged as the sultan and restored Ottoman power, part of the Ottoman territories in the Balkans were temporarily lost after 1402, but were later recovered by Murad II between the 1430s and 1450s. Four years later, János Hunyadi prepared another army to attack the Turks, the son of Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror, reorganized the state and the military, and demonstrated his martial prowess by capturing Constantinople on 29 May 1453, at the age of 21. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II cemented the status of the Empire as the preeminent power in southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. To this aim he spent many years securing positions on the Adriatic Sea, such as in Albania Veneta, during this period in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of conquest and expansion, extending its borders deep into Europe and North Africa. Conquests on land were driven by the discipline and innovation of the Ottoman military, and on the sea, the state also flourished economically due to its control of the major overland trade routes between Europe and Asia

32.
Papal States
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The Papal States, officially the State of the Church, were territories in the Italian Peninsula under the sovereign direct rule of the pope, from the 8th century until 1870. They were among the states of Italy from roughly the 8th century until the Italian Peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. At their zenith, they covered most of the modern Italian regions of Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Romagna and these holdings were considered to be a manifestation of the temporal power of the pope, as opposed to his ecclesiastical primacy. By 1861, much of the Papal States territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy, only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Popes temporal control. In 1870, the pope lost Lazio and Rome and had no physical territory at all, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ended the crisis between unified Italy and the Vatican by signing the Lateran Treaty, granting the Vatican City State sovereignty. The Papal States were also known as the Papal State, the territories were also referred to variously as the State of the Church, the Pontifical States, the Ecclesiastical States, or the Roman States. For its first 300 years the Catholic Church was persecuted and unrecognized and this system began to change during the reign of the emperor Constantine I, who made Christianity legal within the Roman Empire, and restoring to it any properties that had been confiscated. The Lateran Palace was the first significant new donation to the Church, other donations followed, primarily in mainland Italy but also in the provinces of the Roman Empire. But the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, the seeds of the Papal States as a sovereign political entity were planted in the 6th century. Beginning In 535, the Byzantine Empire, under emperor Justinian I, launched a reconquest of Italy that took decades and devastated Italys political, just as these wars wound down, the Lombards entered the peninsula from the north and conquered much of the countryside. While the popes remained Byzantine subjects, in practice the Duchy of Rome, nevertheless, the pope and the exarch still worked together to control the rising power of the Lombards in Italy. As Byzantine power weakened, though, the took a ever larger role in defending Rome from the Lombards. In practice, the papal efforts served to focus Lombard aggrandizement on the exarch, a climactic moment in the founding of the Papal States was the agreement over boundaries embodied in the Lombard king Liutprands Donation of Sutri to Pope Gregory II. When the Exarchate of Ravenna finally fell to the Lombards in 751, the popes renewed earlier attempts to secure the support of the Franks. In 751, Pope Zachary had Pepin the Younger crowned king in place of the powerless Merovingian figurehead king Childeric III, zacharys successor, Pope Stephen II, later granted Pepin the title Patrician of the Romans. Pepin led a Frankish army into Italy in 754 and 756, Pepin defeated the Lombards – taking control of northern Italy – and made a gift of the properties formerly constituting the Exarchate of Ravenna to the pope. The cooperation between the papacy and the Carolingian dynasty climaxed in 800, when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor, the precise nature of the relationship between the popes and emperors – and between the Papal States and the Empire – is disputed. Events in the 9th century postponed the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire in its Frankish form collapsed as it was subdivided among Charlemagnes grandchildren

33.
History of Poland
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The history of Poland originates in the migrations of Slavs who established permanent settlements in the Polish lands during the Early Middle Ages. The first ruling dynasty, the Piasts, emerged by the 10th century AD, Duke Mieszko I is considered the de facto creator of the Polish state and is widely recognized for the widespread adoption of Western Christianity that followed his baptism in 966. The duchy of Poland that Mieszko ruled was formally reconstituted as a kingdom in 1025 by his son Bolesław I Chrobry. In its early phases, the Commonwealth was able to sustain the levels of prosperity achieved during the Jagiellonian period through its development of a sophisticated noble democracy. From the mid-17th century, however, the state entered a period of decline caused by devastating wars. From 1795 until 1918, no truly independent Polish state existed, the opportunity to regain independence only materialized after World War I, when the three partitioning imperial powers were fatally weakened in the wake of war and revolution. Millions of Polish citizens perished in the course of the Nazi occupation of Poland between 1939 and 1945 as Germany classified ethnic Poles and other Slavs, Jews and Romani as subhuman. This process resulted in the creation of the modern Polish state, members of the Homo genus have lived in north Central Europe for thousands of years since the last periods of prehistoric glaciation. The Neolithic period ushered in the Linear Pottery culture, whose founders migrated from the Danube River area beginning about 5,500 BC and this culture was distinguished by the establishment of the first settled agricultural communities in modern Polish territory. Later, between about 4,400 and 2,000 BC, the native post-Mesolithic populations would also adopt, Polands Early Bronze Age began around 2300–2400 BC, whereas its Iron Age commenced c. One of the cultures that have been uncovered, the Lusatian culture, spanned the Bronze and Iron Ages. Around 400 BC, Poland was settled by Celts of the La Tène culture and they were soon followed by emerging cultures with a strong Germanic component, influenced first by the Celts and then by the Roman Empire. The Germanic peoples migrated out of the area by about 500 AD during the great Migration Period of the European Dark Ages, wooded regions to the north and east were settled by Balts. According to mainstream archaeological research, Slavs have resided in modern Polish territories for over 1500 years, in the 9th and 10th centuries, these tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the coast of the Baltic Sea and in Greater Poland. This latest tribal undertaking resulted in the formation of a political structure in the 10th century that became the state of Poland. Poland was established as a state under the Piast dynasty. Historical records of an official Polish state begin with Duke Mieszko I in the half of the 10th century. This event has become known as the baptism of Poland, Mieszko completed a unification of the West Slavic tribal lands that was fundamental to the new countrys existence

34.
History of Portugal
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The history of Portugal dates back to the Early Middle Ages. The country was weakened by the destruction of much of its capital city in an earthquake in 1755, occupation during the Napoleonic Wars. From the middle of the 19th century to the late 1950s, in 1910, there was a revolution that deposed the monarchy. Amid corruption, repression of the church, and the bankruptcy of the state. The new government instituted sweeping reforms and granted independence to all of Portugals African colonies in 1975. Portugal is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It entered the European Economic Community in 1986, the word Portugal derives from the Roman-Celtic place name Portus Cale. Around 200 BC, the Romans took the Iberian Peninsula from the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War, during the Dark Ages, the region around Portus Cale became known by the Suebi and Visigoths as Portucale. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Portugale was already referred to as Portugal, the precise etymology of the name Cale is somewhat mysterious, although the most plausible origin points to Cale being a Celtic name, like many others found in the region. Indeed the word cale or cala meant port, an inlet or harbour, furthermore todays Gaelic word for harbour is indeed Cala. Some argue it is the stem of Gallaecia, again of Celtic derivation, another theory claims it derives from the word Caladunum. In any case, the particle Portu in the word Portucale was used as the basis of Porto, and port became the English name of the wine actually produced further inland, in the Upper Douro Valley region, but exported through Porto. The name Cale is today reflected in Gaia, a city on the bank of the river. The region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals, and then by Homo sapiens, Neanderthals probably arrived 100,000 years BP. A Neanderthal tooth found at Nova da Columbiera cave in Estremadura is one of the oldest human fossils so far discovered, Homo sapiens sapiens arrived in Portugal in around 35,000 years ago and spread rapidly throughout the country. Pre-Celtic tribes inhabited Portugal leaving a remarkable cultural footprint, the Cynetes developed a written language, leaving many stelae, which are mainly found in the south of Portugal. Early in the first millennium BC, several waves of Celts invaded Portugal from Central Europe and intermarried with the populations to form several different ethnic groups. The Celtic presence in Portugal is traceable, in outline, through archaeological

35.
Prussia
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Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and centred on the region of Prussia. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised, Prussia, with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin, shaped the history of Germany. In 1871, German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership, in November 1918, the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918–19. The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic—the Free State of Prussia, from 1933, Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup, when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state. Prussia existed de jure until its liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No.46 of 25 February 1947. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, in the 13th century, the Teutonic Knights—an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders—conquered the lands inhabited by them. In 1308, the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk and their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south, it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia. The Second Peace of Thorn split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the part, from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom, and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century it had a say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great. During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a Lesser Germany which excluded the Austrian Empire. At the Congress of Vienna, which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleons defeat, Prussia acquired a section of north western Germany. The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically, and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867, and then of the German Empire in 1871. The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that Junkers and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians. In the Weimar Republic, the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen. East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945, as Poland, the main coat of arms of Prussia, as well as the flag of Prussia, depicted a black eagle on a white background. The black and white colours were already used by the Teutonic Knights. The Teutonic Order wore a white coat embroidered with a cross with gold insert

The arrival of the Portuguese in Japan, the first Europeans who managed to reach it, initiating the Nanban ("southern barbarian") period of active commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West.

The island of Jersey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Duchy of Normandy that …

The Bailiwick of Jersey

La Pouquelaye de Faldouet was constructed on a site on the east coast looking across to the Cotentin Peninsula.

Mont Orgueil dominates the small harbour of Gorey and guards Jersey from attack from the French coast opposite

This map of Jersey, published in 1639, shows interior details such as Le Mont ès Pendus (the gallows hill, now called Westmount). At first sight, the coastline appears wildly inaccurate, but if the image is rotated a little clockwise, the shape becomes much closer to what is known today.